different between inferior vs nasty

English

Alternative forms

• inferiour (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ?nferior (“lower in situation or place”), comparative of ?nferus (“below, underneath”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?nfîr??r
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?f??.?i.?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?f??.i.?/
• Rhymes: -???i?(?)

Adjective

inferior (comparative more inferior, superlative most inferior)

1. Lower in rank, status, or quality.
   1. Of low rank, standard or quality.

   2. (law) (of a court or tribunal) Susceptible to having its decisions overturned by a higher court.
   3. (economics) Denoting goods or services which are in greater demand during a recession than in a boom, for example second-hand clothes.
2. Located below:
   1. (anatomy) Situated below another and especially another similar superior part of an upright body.
   2. (zoology) Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body.
   3. (botany) Situated below some other organ; said of a calyx when free from the ovary, and therefore below it, or of an ovary with an adherent and therefore inferior calyx.
   4. (botany) On the side of a flower which is next to the bract.

      Synonym: anterior

   5. (typography) Printed in subscript.

   6. (astronomy) Below the horizon.

3. (astronomy) Nearer to the Sun than the Earth is.

Usage notes

Inferior and superior are generally followed by to; than is seen sometimes, but is viewed as wrong.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:bad

Antonyms

• superior

Coordinate terms

• (dentistry location adjectives) anterior,? apical,? apicocoronal,? axial,? buccal,? buccoapical,? buccocervical,? buccogingival,? buccolabial,? buccolingual,? bucco-occlusal,? buccopalatal,? cervical,? coronal,? coronoapical,? distal,? distoapical,? distobuccal,? distocervical,? distocoronal,? distofacial,? distogingival,? distoincisal,? distolingual,? disto-occlusal,? distoclusal,? distocclusal,? distopalatal,? facial,? gingival,? incisal,? incisocervical,? inferior,? labial,? lingual,? linguobuccal,? linguo-occlusal,? mandibular,? maxillary,? mesial,? mesioapical,? mesiobuccal,? mesiocervical,? mesiocoronal,? mesiodistal,? mesiofacial,? mesioincisal,? mesiogingival,? mesiolingual,? mesio-occlusal,? mesioclusal,? mesiocclusal,? mesiopalatal,? occlusal,? palatal,? posterior,? proximal,? superior,? vestibular ^{(Category: en:Dentistry) [edit]}

Derived terms

Related terms

• Armenia Inferior
• limit inferior

Translations

Noun

inferior (plural inferiors)

1. A person of lower rank, stature, or ability to another.

   Antonym: superior

2. (printing) An inferior letter, figure, or symbol.

Translations

References

• “inferior”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “inferior”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• inferior in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• inferior at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• fire iron, fireiron

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin ?nferior.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /im.f?.?i?o/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /im.fe.?i?o?/

Adjective

inferior (masculine and feminine plural inferiors)

1. inferior
2. lower

Related terms

• inferioritat

Further reading

• “inferior” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “inferior” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “inferior” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “inferior” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ?nferior (“lower, inferior”), the comparative of ?nferus (“low, nether, underground”).

Adjective

inferior (not comparable)

1. subordinate, secondary
2. (of people) inferior

3. substandard, bad

Declension

Further reading

• “inferior” in Duden online

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /in?fe.ri.or/, [???f??i?r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /in?fe.ri.or/, [in?f???i?r]

Adjective

?nferior (neuter ?nferius, positive ?nferus); third declension

1. comparative degree of ?nferus, lower in situation or place:
   1. Subsequent, later, latter in time or succession.
   2. Inferior in quality, rank, or number.

Inflection

Third-declension comparative adjective.

Related terms

• infimus (superlative)

Descendants

References

• inferior in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• inferior in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• inferior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin ?nferior.

Pronunciation

Adjective

inferior m (feminine singular inferiora, masculine plural inferiors, feminine plural inferioras)

1. inferior
2. lower

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin inferior.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?.f???jo?/
• Hyphenation: in?fe?ri?or

Adjective

inferior m or f (plural inferiores, comparable)

1. inferior

   Antonym: superior

Romanian

Etymology

From French inférieur, from Latin inferior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?in.fe.ri?or/

Adjective

inferior m or n (feminine singular inferioar?, masculine plural inferiori, feminine and neuter plural inferioare)

1. inferior

Declension

Antonyms

• superior

Related terms

• inferioritate

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin inferior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /infe??jo?/, [??.fe??jo?]
• Hyphenation: in?fe?rior

Adjective

inferior (plural inferiores)

1. inferior (of lower quality)
2. inferior (of lower rank)
3. inferior (below)

Antonyms

• superior

Derived terms

Related terms

• inferioridad

Further reading

• “inferior” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), probably from Old Norse *nask- +? -y, whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”). Compare Swedish naskig, naskug (“nasty, dirty, messy”), Swedish and Danish nasket (“dirty, foul, unpleasant”). Compare also Low German nask (“nasty”).

Alternative theories include:

• From Old French nastre (“bad, strange”), shortened form of villenastre (“infamous, bad”), from vilein (“villain”) + -astre (pejorative suffix), from Latin -aster.
• Middle Dutch nestich, nistich ("nasty, dirty, unpleasant"; > Modern Dutch nestig (“dirty, filthy, unclean”)), perhaps ultimately connected to the Scandinavian word above.
• Other suggestions include Old High German naz (“wet”), hardening of English nesh(y) (“soft”), or alteration of English naughty.
• Modern use of the word is sometimes attributed to the popular and often derogatory 19th century American political cartoons of Thomas Nast, but the word predates him.

Pronunciation

• (AusE) IPA^(key): /?na?.sti/
  • Rhymes: -??sti
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n??.sti/
  • Rhymes: -??sti
• (US) IPA^(key): /?næs.ti/
  • Rhymes: -æsti

Adjective

nasty (comparative nastier, superlative nastiest)

1. (now chiefly US) Dirty, filthy. [from 14th c.]
   • 2006, Marie Fontaine, The Chronicles of my Ghetto Street Volume One, p. 156:

     I really don't have any friends at school Mama Mia. They talk about me all the time. They say my hair's nappy and my clothes are nasty.

2. Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person). [from 15th c.]
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula:

     Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty.

3. Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive. [from 16th c.]
   • 1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist:

     ‘It's a nasty trade,’ said Mr. Limbkins, when Gamfield had again stated his wish.

4. Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd. [from 17th c.]
   • 1933, Dorothy L Sayers, Murder Must Advertise:

     He said to Mr. Tallboy he thought the headline was a bit hot. And Mr. Tallboy said he had a nasty mind.

   • 2009, Okera H, Be Your Priority, Not His Option, Mill City Press 2009, p. 45:

     We want threesomes, blowjobs, and orgies. That's just the way it is. We want the good girl who's nasty in bed.

5. Spiteful, unkind. [from 19th c.]
   • 2012, The Guardian, 3 Jun 2012:

     She had said: "I love the block button on Twitter. I don't know how people expect to send a nasty comment and not get blocked."

6. (chiefly Britain) Awkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous. [from 19th c.]
   • 2007, The Observer, 5 Aug 2007:

     There was a nasty period during the First World War when the family's allegiance was called into question - not least because one of the Schroders had been made a baron by the Kaiser.

7. (chiefly Britain) Grave or dangerous (of an accident, illness etc.). [from 19th c.]
   • 2012, James Ball, The Guardian, 2 Mar 2012:

     Moving into the middle ages, William the Conqueror managed to rout the English and rule the country, then see off numerous plots and assassination attempts, before his horse did for him in a nasty fall, killing him at 60.

8. (slang, chiefly US) Formidable, terrific; wicked. [from 20th c.]

Translations

Derived terms

• nastygram

Noun

nasty (plural nasties)

1. (informal) Something nasty.

2. (euphemistic, slang, preceded by "the") Sexual intercourse.
3. A video nasty.
   • 1984, ThirdWay (volume 7, number 5, page 17)

     In this way, it is hoped that the nasties will be dealt with, and the remainder regularized.

Derived terms

• do the nasty
• video nasty

References

Anagrams

• Ansty, Santy, Tansy, Yants, antsy, tansy